Mexico day-care fire death toll rises to 41

By Alonso Castillo

HERMOSILLO, Mexico (Reuters) - The death toll from a fire at a day-care centre in Mexico rose to 41 children on Sunday and a dozen more were fighting for their lives in hospitals.

The northern city of Hermosillo was in mourning after a blaze spread through the ABC day-care centre there on Friday, killing babies and toddlers as parents and employees raced desperately to rescue them.

"In the past few hours three more have died," Sonora state Health Minister Raymundo Lopez told reporters. "Twelve of the 22 hospitalized children are in grave condition."

Pope Benedict said he was "deeply pained" and sent his condolences to the victims' families, saying he would pray for them.

Smoke inhalation killed many of the children, who ranged in age from a few months to three.

It was unclear where or how the fire started, although it may have broken out in a nearby warehouse in an industrial neighbourhood, the government said.

As flames blocked the centre's doorway, employees and bystanders used cars to punch holes through a wall, stumbling over unconscious infants and toddlers as they tried to find them and get them out, witnesses said.

Mexican President Felipe Calderon has ordered an investigation and visited victims on Saturday at hospitals in Hermosillo, a city of about 700,000.